


Taking Greek Mythology as an Elective Was a Mistake

by rexaquilo



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Other Canon Ships - Freeform, idk I haven't read these books in a while, possibly a little OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25326154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexaquilo/pseuds/rexaquilo
Summary: Anyone who isn't a half-blood usually has the good fortune not to have to worry about world-ending prophecies or gods meddling in their personal affairs. I sayusuallybecause I'm not a half-blood and I managed to get tangled up in all of that anyways, all thanks to my best friend and a cute guy who turned out to be a lot more than he seemed.Or: A mortal’s guide to not becoming the next demigod hero’s tragic backstory.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Apollo/Original Female Character, Percy Jackson/Original Female Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. The Worst Service I’ve Ever Had at a Starbucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth fights a harpy, and then tries to fight Apollo. Percy is nothing but encouraging. Gwen is nothing but confused.

If you know Annabeth Chase, always - and I mean seriously, _always_ \- trust her judgement.   
  


When she tells you that the Greek mythology class that Percy wants you to take with him will be lame and a waste of time, listen to her. It'll actually be pretty interesting, but it's going to be the source of a lot of problems in your life. You'll learn that your best friend has a lot of weird and incredibly specific hang-ups about the way that the gods are portrayed in classic literature. If you're like me and know absolutely nothing about mythology going into the class, then it's not going to be the easy A that Percy promised, because he's going to have to help you with your homework, and he speaks with absolute authority on all this stuff without ever citing a single source. But worst of all, if you take this class, then when you meet a cute guy named Apollo, you'll think his name is really cool and you'll want to know more about him.

And when Annabeth tells you to completely ignore that cute guy named Apollo and shut him down if he starts to flirt with you, please, for the love of Olympus, _please_ trust her judgement. Otherwise your life might turn out like mine.

If you're like me and you decide to completely ignore all of Annabeth's good advice, for no reason other than you thought she couldn't possibly be right about _everything_ , then at least take some advice from me and come clean to your friends about it immediately. Don't wait for monsters to attack you in a Starbucks like I did.

I was completely stunned when the barista turned around and had feathers instead of hair. Her nose wasn't just beak-like, it was an actual beak. She set my drink down on the counter.

"De-caf _esssssssspresso_ for Gwen," she said in a raspy voice. She screeched like a hawk, leaping onto the counter, and Annabeth grabbed my wrist and hauled me right out of there. 

"Run for the apartment!" she said, stopping and letting go of me. She was turning to go back into the cafe.

"You can't go back in there!" I called, taking a step toward her. She turned back at me with a glare. 

"Just run!"

_Trust Annabeth's judgement,_ said the voice in my head that I used to not listen to. Well, I'd seen where ignoring that voice got me, so this time I decided to listen to it. I forced my legs to run, but hardly a few steps later I heard glass shattering, and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder. 

Annabeth was holding a dagger and shield - what the fuck? - and standing her ground against the massive creature. It looked like a harpy from that mythology class I took with Percy, but that couldn't be right...could it? My blood ran cold when I realized that the harpy's piercing gaze was on me. 

"Out of my way!" it screeched, swiping at Annabeth with a long clawed arm. The sound of its voice startled me back into action, and I turned away from the fight and began to sprint again. 

No matter how fast I ran, it seemed like I could still hear the sounds of the fight behind me. I didn't dare look over my shoulder again; it felt like my brain was trying to protect me from the incomprehension of seeing a harpy in real life. I finally got to the door of the apartment building, fumbling with my key because my hands were shaking so badly. When I got the door open, I heard Annabeth's voice behind me.

"Gwen! Hold the door!" she called. I turned and saw her sprinting down the block, the harpy hot on her heels. Just as she got to the stoop, she turned suddenly and quickly swiped upward with her dagger in one smooth motion. It caught the harpy under the chin, and it screeched and reeled backwards. She ran up the stoop, taking the steps two at a time, and pushed me inside the building, closing the heavy metal door tight behind her.

She urged me towards the stairs. Now more than ever, I hated living on the fourth floor of a walk-up. We sprinted up the stairs together until we reached our floor. I doubled over, panting, as soon as we brust through the stairwell door, and Annabeth had to come back and grab my wrist to drag me into our apartment. Thank the gods it was a weekend that Percy was visiting, because he sprang up off the couch before the door had time to slam shut behind us.

"What's going on?" he asked, digging into his pocket for something.

"Harpy - " Annabeth gasped, pointing out the window behind Percy, where I could see the harpy had scaled up the side of our building. If that thing broke our window, we were going to have to pay to replace the glass. I thought I was gonna pass out. "I don't get it! She wants Gwen!"

Percy glanced at me briefly before producing a pen from his pocket. He uncapped it, and suddenly he was holding a sword, sharp and gleaming. The harpy's sharp talons scraped against the window. Percy and Annabeth sidled up to either side of the window, meeting eyes and nodding, before Annabeth threw open the window and let the harpy climb in.

Between Percy and Annabeth, it didn't take long to defeat the harpy. With one final screech, it started to fade away. Eventually, all that was left of it were some feathers scattered on the floor and the scratches on our window, which Annabeth was closing. I stood stock-still with my back pressed against the front door, heart still pounding in my ears. Annabeth tucked away her dagger, and I lost sight of her shield. Percy placed a pen cap on his sword, and all of a sudden it was a pen again, being stuffed back in his pocket. Annabeth crossed the room to me.

"Hey," she said gently, "are you alright?"

My brain was racing with thoughts, so many so fast that I couldn't comprehend it. The only thing that managed to get its way out of my mouth was, "What do you mean she wanted me?"

Annabeth looked over her shoulder at Percy, who was watching us with an expression that was equal parts shocked and grave. She lead me to sit on the sofa, gently sqeezing my trembling hands once I was sitting. Once I was settled, she and Percy sat across from me on the coffee table.

"Gwen," she began carefully, "that was a harpy."

"Like..." I gulped. "Like from our class."

"Exactly," Percy said. Unbidden, my mind flashed back to half a year ago, in this same living room. _Apollo, that's a cool name. Like from Greek mythology, right?_ The cute guy sitting on the sofa had flashed me a big grin. _Exactly._

"I thought that it wanted me, but when I took off in the other direction, it went after you instead." Annabeth said. I shook my head, trying to slow down my brain and process each piece of information one at a time.

“Why would it want me?"

"Gwen," Percy said slowly, like he was piecing things together in his brain. "How long were you in foster care?"

"As long as I can remember," I frowned. "Why?"

"Percy," said Annabeth quietly, "you don't think...?"

"And you never knew your parents?" he continued. I shrugged.

"No. I think I was, like, three when I got put into the system." I fidgeted in my seat. "I don't really get what this has to do with whatever the hell just happened."

"Gwen -" Percy started, but Annabeth abruptly interrupted.

“Let's not get too hasty," she said to him, and then turned back to me. "Gwen, has anything like this ever happened to you before?"

"No!" I sputtered. "I definitely would've remembered if it had! Why do you say that like it's happened to you?!"

Percy and Annabeth shared a look, one that said that they were sharing a thought that I wasn't in on. One that kind of said, _it's definitely happened to both of us. A lot._

"Okay," Annabeth said placatingly, leaning forward to place another calming hand over mine. "That's good,"

"Well if she's not one of us," Percy said pointedly, sounding doubtful, "then what else could it be? You guys have lived together for over a year, so even if she has your scent on her, why would that only matter now? It's been months since Apollo came to visit you guys, so it can't be his scent; it would have faded by now."

"Wait a second," I said. "Apollo? Does he have something to do with all this?"

"Probably not," Percy shrugged. His face was still twisted in confusion.

"Only probably?" I asked quietly. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer to that question. I'm still not sure what made the pieces fall together, creating a picture that I couldn't understand. Maybe it was the secrecy surrounding the first time I'd met him, lounging comfortably on our couch pretending that Percy and Annabeth weren’t mincing words around me. Maybe it was the complete out-of-the-blue coincidence of seeing him again that summer, when he'd reappeared right as I'd wished for someone to be with so I wasn't alone. It had seemed to good to be true. I felt a nasty churning in my stomach the more I thought about it. Annabeth frowned at me.

"Where is this line of questioning coming from?"

I sighed, wringing my hands nervously. "You remember when you told me not to let him flirt with me?"

Her face fell. "Oh no."

"Uh...yeah."

"I don't get it," Percy frowned. "You flirted with Apollo and now you have a harpy after you? That sounds like something he'd do if you rejected him, not if you went along with it."

"No." I shook my head. "I, um. We did more than flirt."

Percy's eyes bugged out of his head. "Did you -?! _You had sex with Apollo?!_ "

I groaned, throwing my head back and covering my face.

"Wait, so...it was that bad that he's sending harpies after you?"

"Percy," Annabeth said sharply. I heard a soft thump that might've been her whacking him on the back of the head. I wanted to dissolve into thin air. I wanted to single-handedly invent time travel so I could go back in time and prevent myself from ever ignoring Annabeth's advice. And if that happened to rip a hole in the space-time continuum and destroy all of reality, then maybe it was for the best.

"Gwen..." Annabeth hesitated. "Please don't tel me what I think you're about to tell me."

I sighed and slumped in my seat, defeated.

"Yeah. I'm pregnant."

"Oh, shit." Percy's jaw went slack.

Annabeth buried her face in her hands. "Oh gods."

"I'm sorry," I said, and I'm still not sure what I was apologizing for. It was a lot, and I was overwhelmed.

"We're not angry," Percy said calmly. "Just disappointed."

I huffed out a half-hearted laugh.

Annabeth suddenly grabbed her dagger and stood up. I startled.

"This isn't something I thought I was going to do today," she muttered to herself, moving around the sofa. "But I already killed a harpy, so why not?"

"W-where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm gonna go kill Apollo for not listening to me," she said casually. I gulped.

"Annabeth," Percy sighed, standing to follow her. "You can't go marching up to Olympus with your dagger." Thank goodness that Percy was here to be calm and reasonable. He pulled his pen from his pocket and held it out to her. Wait a second - Olympus? "Here, take Riptide. It's heavier."

What?!

"Wait a second," I said, shooting to my feet. "You guys know something that I don't, and I think you should tell me."

Annabeth sighed, looking between Percy and me.

"You're right," she relented, motioning towards the sofa. "Let's sit back down. This is going to be a long story."

And that was when they told me all the things that you probably already know - the Greek gods were real, and one had knocked me up. Both Percy and Annabeth were the result of similar unions between the gods and mortals, and this kind of monster fighting was apparently just another facet of every day life for them. It was a lot to take in.

I had known them for three years. _Three entire years_ where this was apparently just something that happened to them occasionally, and I had no clue. Their summer camp was a summer camp for demigods, and the other camp friends that they'd introduced me to were also demigods - with the exception of Rachel, who was a mortal like me, but also an _oracle_ , whatever the hell that meant. They quieted when they were done, watching me carefully. I stayed quiet for a few minutes, trying to sort out all of my thoughts. This had a lot of implications for my future, a future that I hadn't even decided what to do about yet. All these thoughts were so heavy and hard to wade through. I sighed and shook my head.

"This all would've been nice to know, like, four months ago."

Percy chuckled quietly, but Annabeth bristled.

“Well, I did tell you -"

"Annabeth," I stopped her. "I literally have the consequence of not listening to you living inside of my body. I could do without the 'I told you so.'"

“Fine," she said. "Spare me the gross details, but...where exactly did you find time to do the nasty with a Greek god?"

“Well," I shifted in my seat. "You know how over the summer, my foster parents wanted me to come with them on vacation? To try and mend our relationship, or whatever."

"Yeah," Percy said. "Hey - how did that go?"

“We still have some communication problems, but now that we've acknowledged the issue, there's -"

"Sorry," Annabeth cut in, "I really do wanna hear how things are with you and your foster parents, but..."

"Right," I said, shaking my head. "No, it's fine. Um. Well, we went up to Cape Cod. Before we got things sorted out, I was pretty much spending all my time at the beach. Like, literally from when the sun came up to until I could barely stay awake long enough to drag myself home. I would go out every day, moping and pitying myself, and wishing I wasn't alone. And then, I ran into him on the beach one day. He was just as nice and charming as that time when he was here. He could tell I was pissed, and he let me vent. He was...pretty thoughtful, actually."

Percy and Annabeth gave me matching looks of confusion.

"Weird," Annabeth said.

"Wait, so did your foster parents meet him when you brought him home?" Percy asked. I felt my face burn, and I averted my gaze.

“Uh. I never took him home with me. We only hung out at the beach."

It was quiet for a second.

"Oh."

“Okay," Annabeth said, standing. "I've heard enough. I'm glad he was nice to you, Gwen, but I'm still going to kick his ass."

“One last thing,” I said, hands twisting in my lap. “So...my baby is going to be a demigod. And the monsters can tell, that’s why they’re after me?”

Percy grimaced. “We think so.”

“You think so?” I shifted. “This isn’t... _normal,_ is it?”

“No,” Annabeth said, crossing her arms. “That’s why we need to take you to Camp Half-Blood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to Percabeth but my middle-school self made me write this. This will be Percy/OFC in the future, but it’ll take a couple chapters to get there. For now, Percabeth are together. Nothing against Annabeth at all, I love her, I just Love Percy Jackson A Lot (who doesn’t?) so I made this.
> 
> Canon divergent after The Last Olympian because I haven’t read Heroes of Olympus yet, whoops.
> 
> It's been a few years since I've read the books, and I didn't have the time or mental bandwidth to go back and reread all of them before writing this, so I apologize for any ooc dialogue. I do my best.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this! It was fun to write and it makes writing even more fun when I know other people like it, too.


	2. The Cons Far Outweigh the Pros (Like That's Gonna Stop Me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Annabeth take Gwen to Camp Half-Blood, and fill her in on the basics of demigod knowledge on the way. Gwen faces a tough decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor warning for discussions of puke and abortions, in case either of those things make you uncomfy.

"Apollo, that's a cool name. Like from Greek mythology, right?"

I wouldn't say that I was usually into surfer dudes, and that's exactly what Apollo looked like. Golden curls that were mussed like he'd just gotten out of the water, sun-kissed skin that glistened like bronze. His eyes were keen and bright, boring into me like he could read all of my secrets through my skin. For far too long, my eyes were stuck on his lips, full and really soft looking, curling up in the corners like he was holding back a smile. He was gazing at me like he knew a secret that I didn't. I should have known he was trouble, but in that moment, all I wanted was to be let in on the secret. He gave me a wide grin, eyes sparkling.

"Exactly."

"Oh, gods," Annabeth huffed. "Don't."

"What?" said Apollo, frowning at Annabeth. "I didn't do anything!"

"We're doing you a favor, so don't cause any trouble," she said, voice hard. She turned back to where she and Percy were talking in annoyed whispers on the other side of the living room. I shifted on my feet, trying to decide whether or not to turn and go back into my room. Based on their whispers now, and the way that Annabeth groaned when I walked in the room, whatever was going on was something that I wasn't supposed to be privy to.

Annabeth gave Percy a firm nod, then stood from her seat on the sofa and crossed the room, pulling me by the arm back into the hallway.

"Hey," she said quietly, "Percy and I need to run to Rachel's place really quick, but we'll be back as soon as we can. Apollo's a good guy - you know I wouldn't leave you alone in the apartment with some creep - so you don't have to leave if you don't want. But you can head to the cafe or something if you're not cool with it."

"Nah, I think I'll be fine," I said with a shrug. "He seems nice - pretty cute, too."

Annabeth gave me a fierce look. "Don't you even think about it. If he flirts with you, just shut it right down. Trust me."

I rose an eyebrow at her.

"I thought you said that this guy isn't a creep?"

"Just because he's not a creep doesn't mean that he's good news," she retorted. "Gwen, trust me on this."

* * *

Growing up going from foster home to foster home meant that I never really got to have a vacation. The first time I ever saw the ocean - like, the proper ocean at the beach and not just New York Bay from the Battery - was when my foster parents took me to Cape Cod the summer after my freshman year of college. I’d been placed with them when I was fourteen, and they were the first foster parents that seemed to give a shit. Not that it was any easier trying to deal with the emotional issues that twelve years in the system will give someone, but it was a start. 

They were great people, really, even though it was difficult to let my walls down around them. I hope that they knew how much I appreciated them letting me stay in the household when I aged out; that kind of kindness was so foreign to me, I didn’t even know how to begin to thank them. It made things a little awkward sometimes. The awkwardness in the hotel room was too much for me to take most days, so I’d go down to the beach and while away the hours until it was time to head back. That was how he found me. 

“Hey - Gwen, right?”

I had specifically tried to find a small stretch of the beach that was quiet and secluded so I could stretch out on a towel in the sun. I was sick of hanging out with Percy and Annabeth and looking like a ghost next to them, and I just wanted to tan and be sad and lonely in peace. I squinted my eyes open to see someone blocking the sun, silhouetted in rays of light. I frowned and lifted myself on my elbows; when my eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, I realized that I recognized him. 

“Oh, shit. Hey, Apollo!”

His grin was brighter than the light that surrounded him. “Hey! Mind if I join you?”

“Sure,” I said, sitting up and patting the free spot on the wide beach towel beside me. He took a seat, and I kept my eyes carefully averted from his bare chest. “Kind of a surprise to see you here.”

“I didn’t think it was you, at first,” he said. “But I’m glad it is.”

Hopefully being flushed from the sun was a reasonable explanation for the blush that crept up my face. 

“What brings you to Cape Cod?”

He shrugged. “I had some free time, I was in the area. How about you?”

I groaned, leaning back on my hands. “The short version is that I’m on vacation with my foster parents.”

“And the long version?”

I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Trust me, you don’t have that kind of time.”

He shifted his weight so he was leaning closer to me, meeting my gaze with a challenging look. 

“I’ve got all the time in the world.”

My eyes narrowed, skeptical. Annabeth’s voice rang through my head. _Trust me on this._ I was about to offload a lot of personal shit onto him. If that scared him away, then Annabeth was right. If he heard my life story and still wanted to stick around, then all the better for me. Eventually, I shrugged, chuckling wryly. 

“Alright,” I relented, turning to face him fully. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

* * *

The glass of the backseat window was mercifully cold against the raised temperature of my skin, and my forehead and cheek stuck to it like I was a little suction cup window decoration. I used to love long car rides, even (sometimes especially) when I was the only one kickin it in the back seat. Now I couldn't survive without the AC blasting freezing cold air and Annabeth turned around in her seat holding a battery-powered fan in my face while my eyelids fluttered between open and shut like I was a zombie.

The trip to Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be two and a half hours, and an hour and a half in, we'd already stopped three times so I could puke unceremoniously on the side of the road, and once more for snacks and water since Annabeth was worried about me getting dehydrated. The snacks bounced freely on the back seat beside me with every bump in the road, and the plastic bag they came in from the convenience store was hanging between my legs in case I needed to upchuck again before Percy could pull over.

"I'm sure Paul would understand," Percy said reassuringly. I chuckled.

"It's okay, Perce," I said. "Nobody wants to wash puke out of the carpet of their car. I'm feeling a lot better, anyways. I think that last one was it for me."

"I'm sure the infirmary will have something to help you with the nausea," Annabeth said, reaching around the seat with her other hand to pat my head gently. 

"Can you explain this whole camp thing to me again?"

"Right, so, you're not the only unlucky mortal to have been conned into a tryst with a god," Annabeth started. 

"I'm not the only unlucky mortal to have a completely consensual, if misguided and poorly thought-out, tryst with a god," I corrected her. "I wasn't conned into anything, I'm just stupid."

"Anyways," she continued, "demigods happen. Half-bloods. And when we grow up, we attract monsters. Camp Half-Blood is where we go to train. We're protected from monsters there -"

"Mostly," Percy cut in.

"Mostly protected from monsters. But you won't have anything to worry about while you're there," she assured. "Pretty much all the different gods have children there now."

"Even Apollo?" I asked. I didn't really mean to, since I wasn't really sure I wanted to know the answer or think about its implications, but my mouth was doing a lot of things I didn't want it to do that night.

"Oh yeah," Annabeth said gravely. "He's got - uh. A good handful."

"A shitton," I guessed.

"It could be worse," Percy said. "The Hermes cabin has the most campers - he really gets around."

"Apollo came across as a bit of a player," I mumbled. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"You _shouldn't_ be surprised," Annabeth said stiffly. "If you had listened -"

" _Annabeth!_ " I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut. "How many times do I have to puke on the side of the road before I can get a little bit of sympathy?"

She gave a hard sigh through her nose. 

"Take another sip of water," she said. I figured this was her way of granting me some clemency and did as she commanded. 

"So, you guys," I said, recapping the bottle of water. "Poseidon and Athena, huh? Aren't they supposed to, like, hate each other?"

"Oh, they do," said Percy dryly. "Just another fun aspect of our relationship."

"They tolerate each other for us," Annabeth explained. "Most of the time."

"That's nice of them. So do the gods - I mean, are they, like..."

"Good parents?" Percy guessed. "Uh. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

I sighed, resigned. "Just lay it on me."

"Well the bad news is that all the gods are pretty shitty parents across the board," he said. "But the good news is that most of them have been trying to make an effort at not being so absent all the time."

"Thanks to you," Annabeth said, shooting him a warm smile. I frowned, lifting my head.

"Thanks to Percy?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess we didn't really get to any of that," she said. She looked down at her wristwatch. "We have an hour and a half to Camp Half-Blood, assuming no more stops. Think I can get the whole story in before we get there?"

"You'll be cutting it close." Percy hummed. "Maybe skip everything with the Labyrinth."

"What? Why do we have to leave out _my_ quest?"

"I'm just saying, there's a lot of more important points she needs to know."

"Everything that happened with the Labyrinth was plenty important! What about -"

"Guys." I shifted my head to chase the air from Annabeth's little fan, which had moved off of me when she turned to look at Percy. "Is there, like, a CliffsNotes version? Preferably one that doesn't involve you two bickering like an old married couple for an hour and a half?"

"If you didn't like us bickering like an old married couple, you would've stopped hanging out with us three years ago," Annabeth sniffed. "Anyways, fine. There used to be a Great Prophecy that said that a child of one of the Big Three -"

"Meaning, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades?" I asked.

"Right. The Prophecy said that a child of the Big Three who reached the age of sixteen would have the choice of destroying Olympus or saving it."

"Wow," I frowned. "That's intense. So what happened?"

"Well, to make a long story short, Percy chose to save Olympus, so the gods owed him one."

"Oh, shit!" I sat up straight like I'd been electrified. "Percy, you were the hero of the prophecy?"

"Don't sound so surprised!" he said indignantly. "I'm very heroic."

"The Big Three made a pact not to have children after the prophecy was given," Annabeth explained.

"Based on everything I learned in Greek mythology class, I'm gonna guess that the gods were too horny to keep their promise."

"Hence Percy's existence," Annabeth nodded. Percy lifted a hand from the steering wheel to wave cheerily.

"Wow," I repeated, relaxing back into my seat. "That's some main character shit, dude."

He snorted. "You're telling me. That isn't even worst of it."

Percy and Annabeth managed to get through the rest of the ride to Camp Half-Blood (and most of the story of everything that had lead up to the final battle for Olympus) without completely derailing themselves by bickering. I was completely enthralled the entire time, and graciously free of any overwhelming nausea that would force us to pull over again. It was late by the time we got there, and growing colder. While we approached Camp Half-Blood, I'd started to think that maybe I was going crazy; we were walking through a completely empty field, and there was no summer camp in sight.

Until...there was. It was like I blinked, at it was there right in front of me like it had been there all along. The sight was so sudden that I stumbled over my feet. There in front of us, at the top of the hill we were climbing, was a large marble archway with Greek lettering across the top.

"This is insane," I muttered, staring out at the camp. "It's all true."

"Did you think we were lying?" Percy chuckled from a few steps ahead of me.

"No," I said, "but for a while there I was starting to wonder if I was part of a shared delusion."

They had me wait just outside of the marble archway while they passed through to the other side, before turning and calling for me to pass through the archway behind them.

"That was weirdly specific," I said, brow pinched in confusion.

"It's a safety measure," Annabeth explained. "Mortals can only enter the camp if they're invited by someone from the inside."

"Otherwise spring-breakers and lost tourists would be stumbling into Camp Half-Blood all the time, which would be nightmare - especially trying to wrangle the harpies away from them."

"Wait a second - harpies? You guys have monsters here?"

"The harpies here are part of the staff," Annabeth explained. "Some harpies are evil, some aren't. Just like people. The ones on the staff clean the dishes and eat campers who break curfew."

"Yeah," Percy said, a sudden frown forming on his face. "You know, do you think that maybe they just told us that to keep us from sneaking out? I know I haven't been here as long as you, but I've never seen them eat anyone."

"Nobody wants to chance it," Annabeth shrugged. As we walked, she pointed out various places within the camp - the cabins, the dining pavilions, and the Big House, where we were headed to talk to the director of the camp.

He was waiting for us on the porch of the Big House, looking far more normal than I was expecting. He was a very kindly looking middle aged man, sitting in a wheelchair in a knit sweater with a woven blanket over his lap. He smiled warmly as we approached.

"Percy, Annabeth," he greeted. "It's nice to see you two again. And you must be the friend that Percy was telling me about. I'm Chiron, the activities director at Camp Half-Blood."

"Hi. I'm Gwen."

He offered a hand for me to shake, before turning his wheelchair and heading back inside with a beckon for us to follow. Once his back was turned, I gave Percy a confused look.

"How did he know we were coming? You don't even have a cellphone."

"I sent him, uh, an IM. I'll explain later."

He placed a hand on my back and gently guided me inside the Big House. We were lead into a roomy office, where each of us took a seat in front of the desk that Chiron had situated himself behind.

"Now, I understand that this is a rather delicate situation," he began, folding his hands on the desk. "One that is, I'm sure, rather confusing for you."

"Percy and Annabeth explained a lot on the way here," I said. "But...yeah. It's still pretty weird."

"We just don't understand why the harpy wanted her," Annabeth said. "How could they have known? The monsters didn't even know about Percy until he was, like, twelve."

"It is odd, indeed. But the circumstances are different, now. Percy - and Thalia, and the DiAngelos - were foretold to have a choice. Olympus's destruction was not so assured then as it is now."

"Wait a second, what are you talking about?" I interrupted.

“There is a prophecy,” Chiron started, before pausing thoughtfully. “A grandchild of Zeus, born on an equinox, is promised to be the downfall of Olympus.”

I looked between Chiron, whose face was stoic and serious, and then Percy and Annabeth, who looked grim. 

“Like - like, _definitely_ the downfall of Olympus?” I asked. They all nodded. I let out a shaky breath. “So, the next equinox -“

“March 20th,” Chiron answered. I gulped. My doctor couldn’t have chosen the 19th or the 21st as my due date, no. Of course not! That would be too easy. 

“W-well,” I said shakily, “the doctor says that first babies are usually late.”

“Right,” Percy said encouragingly. “And odds are that you’re not the only mortal expecting a demigod baby in the spring. There’s no guarantee that it’s you.”

"But the monsters and gods alike aren't going to take any chance of letting the new child of the prophecy out of their sight," Chiron continued. "Now, the monsters can smell it on you, the blood of the god..."

He trailed off. I grimaced.

"Apollo."

"I see. The blood of Apollo runs through your veins now, as long as you carry his child within you. The monsters are attracted to the scent, and now more than ever, they're trying to get their hands on the grandchildren of Zeus. Now, the gods aren't prowling the streets hoping to catch a whiff of demigod, but as soon as this becomes common knowledge, I expect that they'll be keeping their eye on you."

I gulped, trying to breathe slowly and calm the galloping racehorse thumping away in my chest. “Do prophecies tend to be completely literal?” I asked. “Or is there any chance that the verbiage is misleading?”

They all exchanged glances, considering. 

“The extra details are a little vague,” Percy said finally. “But the main point was pretty clear.”

“With the last Great Prophecy, the fate of Olympus was in the hands of a young demigod,” Chiron said. “And the gods took the threat very seriously.”

“You can say that again,” Percy said with a snort. 

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head. “I thought gods were supposed to be all-powerful. But the Olympians must be pretty wimpy if they’re threatened by a baby.”

There was a faint rumble of thunder in the distance, even though I didn’t remember seeing a single cloud in the sky all day. The others looked nervous, glancing up at the ceiling like it was about to come crashing down on them. 

“Uh,” Percy said, “Blasphemy might not be the best idea, considering he circumstances.”

“The last thing the gods need is another excuse to kill you,” Annabeth said. 

Ah. That made sense. I grimaced. 

“Demigods are dangerous,” Chiron said. “A powerful one, especially with the right allies, could spell an end to the reign of the Olympians. They, more than most, know better than to underestimate the younger generation.”

Right - Kronos, and all that. They had overthrown the last dynasty, and it made sense that they didn’t want their children to do the same to them. 

“Even still,” I said. “We can’t be in that much danger, right? Apollo's a bit of a tool, but I can’t see him handing over his own kid to the rest of the gods.”

Percy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We hope so. His other kids seem to like him, but none of them have been the subject of this kind of prophecy before. And if it’s him versus the rest of Olympus, he might not have a choice.”

“But we’re not going to let anything happen to you,” Annabeth said quickly. “Or your baby. Everyone here in the camp will protect you.”

The only thing standing between me, my baby, and the wrath of the Greek pantheon was a summer camp full of teenagers. Super-powered teenagers, yes, but teenagers nonetheless. Going up against the might of Olympus. It felt like someone had reached into my body, grabbed all my organs with two giant fists, and squeezed. I let out a long breath. 

“Thank you,” I said earnestly. “I’m gonna throw up.”

* * *

When I woke up, the sun hadn’t quite risen; the sky was pale blue, fading to early-morning orange at the horizon. I was peaceful for a long moment, blinking drearily and listening to the waves lapping at the shore and the quiet calls of the gulls. I shifted beneath the woven blanket, burrowing closer to Apollo. He radiated warmth like a furnace, and his arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder like a buffer against the cool morning air. 

I finally opened my eyes again a moment later, lifting my chin to look at him, only to find him smiling down at me. 

“Hi,” he whispered. I gave him a small smile. 

“Hey.”

He reached over with his other hand to brush a lock of hair behind my ear, letting his hand linger for a moment against the side of my face. 

“You leave today, right?” 

I groaned, burying my face against his shoulder. “Don’t remind me.”

I felt more his chuckle more than I heard it, rumbling through his chest. He gave me a squeeze. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he said placatingly. “Maybe I’ll swing by and visit you the next time I’m in New York.”

“That would be nice,” I sighed. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t let Annabeth catch me dead in the apartment.” I sat up, reaching over to the pile of discarded clothes next to my bag. Shaking the sand out of my sweater, I stretched my arms languidly before pulling it over my bare skin. “I had a really nice summer, thanks to you.”

“Really nice?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow. He lifted one arm to rest behind his head, his other hand tracing mindless patterns over his chest. Ugh. He was so handsome, it was unfair. I looked back up at his face before he could tease me for staring - which he liked to do, a lot. “Not fantastic? Or wonderful? Or mind-blowingly amazing?”

I laughed, rolling my eyes and reaching over for the rest of my clothes. 

“Please,” I scoffed. “There’s always room for improvement.”

“Improvement!” he huffed, and I laughed again, standing and brushing the sand off of me. “Do you know how many people would die to be in your position?”

“My position?” I rose a suggestive eyebrow at him. “Which one?”

He sighed dramatically and placed a hand over a pectoral that looked like it had been sculpted from marble. He recited,

_Her tongue is clever,_

_And sharpened so to wound me,_

_But her jokes are bad._

"Ouch," I said dryly. "Aren't you named after the god of poetry? You suck at this."

He gave me an offended look.

“After all I’ve done for you this summer, this is how you treat me?”

I laughed, another snarky remark on the tip of my tongue, but I was fully dressed and needed to head back to the hotel before it was time to leave. Instead, I stepped over him to his other side and knelt, leaning down to give him a lingering kiss. When we pulled apart, he reached up to brush my cheek. 

"I'm glad I ran into you, Apollo." 

His skin lingered against mine, and I gave him a small smile. I watched his eyes trace my face. "Me too."

"See you around?" 

He returned my smile with a small nod. “See you around.”

Hefting my bag onto my shoulder, I set off across the beach and back towards the hotel, completely unaware of the piece of Apollo that I carried with me. 

* * *

After spending twenty minutes kneeling over the toilet in the bathroom, my head felt crowded and fuzzy, and I just wanted some fresh air. The air coming off of the ocean was brisk, filled with salty spray, but it helped clear my mind and ground me in reality. I crossed my arms over my chest, digging my bare feet into the cold sand. Everything that they had told me was terrifying, but while she held my hair back in the bathroom, Annabeth had gently reminded me that there was still another option for me, if I wanted it. 

Part of me did. I didn’t want to drop out of college, but in a couple months I’d be off the swim team, which would mean losing my scholarship. I didn't have the money to pay for NYU on my own, and the last thing that I wanted to do was put myself in debt by taking out a student loan right before I became responsible for another person. I dreaded telling my foster parents, seeing the disappointment cross their faces. They really had such high hopes for me, and I was going to squander away all that hard work because of a series of bad decisions one summer. How would I even explain this to them? They couldn’t know about Apollo, or about the fact that monsters and gods alike would want the baby dead.

And there was everything with the prophecy, with the gods. If my baby was prophesied to destroy Olympus, did that mean they'd grow up to be evil? Even if they weren't evil, they'd grow up in the crosshairs of the gods, hated since birth for something that they didn't even do. It sounded like a lot of pressure, and a really shit way to grow up. It sounded like a recipe for someone who wanted to destroy Olympus - a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It wasn’t too late for me to back out, to have an abortion and to ensure that peace continued for gods and demigods and mortals, to let my life resume the upward trajectory that I’d spent my whole life waiting for. 

But then there was the other part of me. The completely unreasonable, irrational part of me that said _I want this._ Full stop. No explanation, no solution for all the problems it would cause. _I want this,_ the only thing on the list of pros in my brain, in bold 72-point typeface to draw my eye away from the mile-long list of cons. 

I felt more than saw Percy sidle up beside me. He had a very calming presence, the gentle rock of waves against a boat or a quiet summer storm in the evening. (Even before I knew he was Poseidon’s kid, everything about Percy inspired comparisons to water.) We spent a few minutes standing together in silence while he waited for me to talk first. 

“Would I be selfish if I went through with this?” I asked finally, voice so quiet that I almost couldn’t hear myself over the sound of the waves. 

“‘Course not,” Percy said. “The decision is entirely yours, Gwen. You get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong.”

I hesitated, hugging myself a little tighter.

“I guess I just feel like I’d be setting the kid up for a really hard life.”

“I can’t say for sure,” Percy said gently, “but I’m pretty sure life is hard even if you’re not a demigod. I mean, sure, I have to deal with monsters a lot. But you’ve dealt with some monsters of your own, haven’t you?”

I worried my lip. “I guess you’re right.”

“And, I have to say, being a demigod - even when I was the one that all the gods hated - is a lot less scary with my mom in my corner.”

That made me chuckle. “Sally’s pretty great. You’re really lucky.”

“My point is that - if you want to be - you're going to be a great mom, Gwen. And if your baby ends up being the new hero of the prophecy, nothing that the monsters or gods throw at them is going to be too much for them to handle as long as they have you."

I swallowed thickly. There was a lot that I wanted to say to Percy, but all the words got stuck in my throat. He waited a moment for me to say anything, but I stayed quiet, biting my lip hard and looking out over the ocean so I wouldn't break down.

"You know, my mom's in your corner, too,” he said, bumping my shoulder with his. “Why don’t you talk to her? She’s had nineteen years of dealing with a demigod kid who’s constantly being chased after by angry gods or bloodthirsty monsters. I’m sure she’s got some tips.”

Sally Jackson in general was one of the best people I’ve ever met, and knowing that there was someone else in the world who had any idea what I was about to go through felt like a weight being lifted off of my shoulders. Suddenly, breathing came easier, and everything that petrified me just a few minutes ago didn’t seem so scary now. I turned to look up at Percy, who was watching me carefully. Gods, I was lucky to have a friend like him. I was lucky to have a friend like Annabeth. 

The smile that I gave him was watery and wobbly.

"What would I do without you guys?"

Percy barked out a laugh and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh, Gwen. Without us, you wouldn't be in this mess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, long-ish notes incoming - but all important, I promise.
> 
> Firstly, this chapter hops around the timeline a bit. Hopefully I did that artfully, and it wasn't confusing. Let me know if you were confused and I will come back and reformat flashback sections to be in italics.
> 
> If you were wondering if I am purposefully avoiding writing out the entire prophecy because I'm bad at rhyming and prophecies are hard to come up with, you would be absolutely right. Prophecies require some semblance of a plot, and we don't do that here.
> 
> Which brings me to: okay, obviously I have a little bit of plot, but ultimately this is meant to be a character-focused romance. The plot is mostly just set-dressing. I'm going to do my best to make it something cool that makes sense, but ultimately I expect to hand-wave away some of the finer details. I just wanna make my OC kiss Percy Jackson.
> 
> Did I say that I was going to go back and brush up on my characterization?? I lied, I'm just going for it. Hopefully everyone is in the realm of recognizability. Regardless, I added a tag as a warning for people who are sticklers for characterization (which is valid.)
> 
> Anyways!! If you liked this then please feed your author some comments. This is all for fun but I crave validation nonetheless. (Also, it's just the nice thing to do.)


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